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Schlep Happens: How Hulken Rolled Its Way to 8-Figures
In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Alex Schinasi (Co-Founder of Hulken) and Lee Rotenberg (CRO of Hulken) for a wide-ranging conversation on building, pivoting, and scaling across both venture-backed SaaS and a wildly successful consumer brand. From startup war stories in the NFX days to turning an “accidental business” into a $50M+ brand with a seven-person team, Alex and Lee share the kind of operator wisdom you only get after doing it multiple times.
Together, they dive into:
• The pivots that shaped Ivy and what they learned from exits
• Why Alex & Lee love the 0→1 stage and how that founder energy shows up in consumer
• How Hulken became a viral, new-category product with an organic social flywheel
• The power of “pro” niches (thrifters, makeup artists, stylists) in driving brand adoption
• Going premium on purpose: partnerships, positioning, and resisting “utility brand” gravity
• Retail expansion lessons from Container Store to Target
• Inventory planning, scarcity, and what happens when demand keeps surprising you
• The modern Shopify tool stack: what works, what’s noisy, and why consolidation is coming
• Where ecommerce is heading next
👥 Meet the guestsAlex Schinasi, Co-Founder at Hulken
Lee Rotenberg, CRO at Hulken
🎙 Hosted byAaron Schwartz, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Orita.ai
🎧 Chapters[00:00] Meet Lee & Alex: Serial Founders Behind Hulken[01:49] SaaS to Consumer: Why They Switched (and Why It’s Rare)[03:56] 3 Pivots + 2 Exits: The Ivy & Clay Origin Story[09:05] Hulken Was “Accidental”… Then It Took Off[13:35] The Viral Flywheel: How Hulken Grew Without Forcing It[18:05] Ops Reality Check: Inventory, Retail, and Scaling Lean[22:56] What’s Next: AI Shopping, Ecommerce Shifts, and Hulken’s Playbook[27:45] Founder Advice: Move Fast, Don’t Lie to Yourself
🌐 Check out Orita.ai for more episodes of The Orita Podcast, where we sit down with the most interesting operators, marketers, and founders in e-commerce to talk about what’s working right now. Hosted by the Orita team. Orita uses machine learning to help brands send smarter, more profitable marketing, by figuring out who actually wants to hear from you and when.
🚀 Get your free email audit from Orita, turn segments into superpowers: https://orita.ai
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple
📩 Subscribe for more founder‑grade retention intel
View all episodes
By Aaron SchwartzIn this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Alex Schinasi (Co-Founder of Hulken) and Lee Rotenberg (CRO of Hulken) for a wide-ranging conversation on building, pivoting, and scaling across both venture-backed SaaS and a wildly successful consumer brand. From startup war stories in the NFX days to turning an “accidental business” into a $50M+ brand with a seven-person team, Alex and Lee share the kind of operator wisdom you only get after doing it multiple times.
Together, they dive into:
• The pivots that shaped Ivy and what they learned from exits
• Why Alex & Lee love the 0→1 stage and how that founder energy shows up in consumer
• How Hulken became a viral, new-category product with an organic social flywheel
• The power of “pro” niches (thrifters, makeup artists, stylists) in driving brand adoption
• Going premium on purpose: partnerships, positioning, and resisting “utility brand” gravity
• Retail expansion lessons from Container Store to Target
• Inventory planning, scarcity, and what happens when demand keeps surprising you
• The modern Shopify tool stack: what works, what’s noisy, and why consolidation is coming
• Where ecommerce is heading next
👥 Meet the guestsAlex Schinasi, Co-Founder at Hulken
Lee Rotenberg, CRO at Hulken
🎙 Hosted byAaron Schwartz, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Orita.ai
🎧 Chapters[00:00] Meet Lee & Alex: Serial Founders Behind Hulken[01:49] SaaS to Consumer: Why They Switched (and Why It’s Rare)[03:56] 3 Pivots + 2 Exits: The Ivy & Clay Origin Story[09:05] Hulken Was “Accidental”… Then It Took Off[13:35] The Viral Flywheel: How Hulken Grew Without Forcing It[18:05] Ops Reality Check: Inventory, Retail, and Scaling Lean[22:56] What’s Next: AI Shopping, Ecommerce Shifts, and Hulken’s Playbook[27:45] Founder Advice: Move Fast, Don’t Lie to Yourself
🌐 Check out Orita.ai for more episodes of The Orita Podcast, where we sit down with the most interesting operators, marketers, and founders in e-commerce to talk about what’s working right now. Hosted by the Orita team. Orita uses machine learning to help brands send smarter, more profitable marketing, by figuring out who actually wants to hear from you and when.
🚀 Get your free email audit from Orita, turn segments into superpowers: https://orita.ai
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple
📩 Subscribe for more founder‑grade retention intel